PART II. YOUTH AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015
Young women and girls face more in gender disparity because of lack of knowledge about their rights, low level of education and experience. The community, and worse still, the older women have left the girl child and young woman out of the decision making and leadership programs.
Hellen Tombo, (Kenya) 27 years old69 Introduction
Despite progress towards achieving gender equality, women are still not given the same protections, rights and roles as men and
are
denied opportunities for employment and education. Traditional practices, attitudes, and roles, in addition to religious and economic beliefs, result in unequal power relations, which may not be recognized as discrimination. Poverty is the biggest impediment to gender equality. In developing countries girls are often expected to remain at home to care for younger siblings and the household. Often it is the boys who go to school as it is assumed that they can earn more money. Beyond education, a lower status of women is perpetuated by economic, legal, and political polices. Young women grow up in a world of wage disparities, unequal protection and inequitable laws such as those that deny the right of inheritance. There also exists a social misperception that women’s work has no economic value since the majority of women’s work occurs in the non-wage economy.At the World Conference on Women in 1995, governments agreed in the Beijing Platform for Action that
“Special measures must be taken to ensure that young women have the life skills necessary for active and effective participation in all levels of social, cultural, political and economic leadership. It will be critical for the international community to demonstrate a new commitment to the future - a commitment to inspiring a new generation of women and men to work together for a more just society. This new generation of leaders must accept and promote a world in which every child is free from injustice, oppression and inequality and free to develop her/his own potential. The principle of equality of women and men must therefore be integral to the socialization process.”70
The global community has clearly failed to reach the benchmark of 2005 for ensuring access to all for primary education (Target 4). It is estimated that more than 60 million girls are denied access to primary education.71 Uneducated women who seek work outside of the home are at greater risk of being overworked, underpaid, physically abused, or forced into sexual labor.72 In addition, an educated or literate woman is less likely to die in childbirth, more likely to have fewer and healthier children, and more likely to be able to provide access to education for her children.
Young people are capable of contributing to the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education through expanding and supporting the formal and non formal education of young women and girls, empowering young women to help themselves, and promoting gender awareness in education. However, young people are the first to realize that “achieving gender equality” goes far beyond primary education.
Young women need the encouragement, mentorship and training to enter non-traditional roles to grow up and become leaders of society. Gender inequality is deeply rooted in culture in both the developed and developing world, but young people can be powerful agents of change. Young people recognize that it is extremely important not to impose western values of gender equality, but rather to empower women to help each other and themselves, and to identify their community needs.
The empowerment of women is linked to every Millennium Development Goal, and gender analysis should be incorporated across all the MDGs. Among other priorities, young women need access to higher education, increased political participation, micro credit and ICTs (as discussed in goal 8), reproductive health education
and services (as discussed in goals 4 and 5), and safety from violence and abuse (as discussed in goal 5).
Additionally, it is crucial that young men should be involved in reducing gender-based violence and building a culture of gender equality (as discussed in goal 5).
Expanding And Supporting The Education Of Young Women And Girls
3.1 Option for Action: Provide incentives and funding opportunities for NGOs and youth organizations to initiate non-formal education activities targeting girls and women. Where initiatives already exist develop replication strategies and scale up existing initiatives.
In many countries, particularly in the developing world, governments have not been reliable agents in improving the status of women. However, NGOs worldwide, including youth NGOs, have had some success at bringing more attention to the plight of the girl child in advocacy efforts at all levels and in providing educational opportunities outside the formal education sector to young girls and women. On the ground, many NGOs focus entirely on working with women, and often with a grassroots methodology that is sensitive to the local cultural environment and therefore successful at expanding the education options of young women and girls.
As Case Study 10 below outlines, young people are already contributing to the expansion of education of young girls and women through providing safe environments for non-formal education,73 literacy training, vocational skills such as sewing and hospitality, and counseling to address women’s self-esteem issues. In school systems textbooks and materials need to be reviewed for gender bias and replaced or updated, and teachers need to be sensitized to the gender biases they perpetuate.
Governments should further enable the contribution of young people’s initiatives in expanding and supporting the education of young women and girls should by providing incentives and funding opportunities for existing youth organizations to address education of young women in areas where it is not yet occurring. In areas where some initiatives already exist, governments should work with NGOs to develop replication strategies and scale-up existing initiatives.
Case Study 10: YWCA Of Belize And Bangladesh Closing Gender Gap In Secondary Education74
The HELP program in Belize gives girls ages 13-18 a second chance at secondary education by preparing them for the entrance exam, or helping them to acquire a skill so they can function positively in the community. The program is geared towards helping young women develop positive self-esteem through a counseling program. They are also given the opportunity to re-sit the Primary School Examination or get basic skills in hospitality, sewing, and cosmetology. Young women between 13-18 years of age are the main target group and the young women involved in the program. The program is funded through participatory fees, volunteer teachers, UNICEF, and a minimal level of government funding. At present there are 45 participants. The graduates are currently enrolled in most of the high schools in Belize City and at the junior college. The present Head Girl at Weslet College is a graduate of the program. A graduate from the University of Belize Hospitality Service Department was also a HELP graduate.
Students who have graduated have successfully found employment or have used their newfound skills to start their own business. There are two grave challenges that are creating a negative impact on the growth of the program: lack of funding and lack of space. Future plans are to accommodate more girls and to allow the curriculum to become versatile so that it will develop and grow along with the ever-changing needs and problems that young women face.
The goal of the Bangladesh Adolescent Development Programme is to equip adolescent girls for a better future. For a long time the YWCAs in Bangladesh were running education programs for children as well as adults. Recently the YWCA of Bangladesh identified that there are many adolescent girls who have either never attended school or have dropped out. Without having an education, life skills or occupational skills, these girls are forced into married life and suffer the most. For that reason, in 1998 local YWCAs started the Adolescent Development Program. The program includes literacy, skill training, awareness raising, and preparation for married life. In eight local YWCAs
young girls are receiving the Adolescence Development Training on a regular basis. Fifteen to twenty young girls are usually enrolled in each group for an 18-month course. From July 2001 to March 2002 a total number of 67 girls in 4 groups successfully completed eighteen months of training. Some of them have been admitted into formal schools after completion of the course. ADP aims to reach girls ages 13-19 on the grass roots level.
Empowering Young Women To Improve Their Situation Themselves And To Help Others
3.2 Option for Action: Initiate young women into trainers programs in participation and leadership to enable young women to help their communities.
3.3 Option for Action: Encourage young women’s civic participation through holding conferences for young women to address issues of concern, and opening other means of formal political participation, such as seats for young women in political parties or caucuses.
3.4 Option for Action: Governments and civil society in peaceful areas as well as conflict zones should provide support, training and a project incubation service to help young women leaders evaluate the needs of their communities and develop successful projects.
Youth organizations, though varied by region, face challenges specifically in encouraging the leadership of young women. While struggling to promote youth participation, they may overlook their country’s gender inequality, or even gender inequality that exists within their own organization. While a variety of inspiring youth programs have been implemented worldwide, the impact of this has hardly been felt in the world’s poorest areas. As Case Study 11 below illustrates, when provided with the opportunity to meet, discuss their situation and strategize, young women create networks to support each other’s efforts and maintain momentum.
Leadership and training for trainers particularly aimed at including women should be initiated and supported by governments. For countries in transition and post-conflict, special efforts should be made to include young women in rebuilding processes. These initiatives will promote the empowerment of young women and ensure they have the capacity to improve their situation themselves and to help one another. For example, in recently democratic Kenya, young women have a special position in the Kenya Women’s Political Caucus, which besides ensuring mentorship and political participation of young women, has enabled a youth consortium to participate in a donor-funded Gender and Governance program.75
Case Study 11: Young Women in Africa Mobilizing Around the HIV/AIDS Pandemic
From June 30th to July 4th 2003, a group of 35 young women participated in the Association for Women in Development (AWID) Young Women and Leadership program’s first-ever regional institute on ‘Tackling HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa’.76 Young women from all over the African continent as well as from Australia, India, Uzbekistan and Barbados came together to analyze, strategize and mobilize around the HIV/AIDS pandemic while examining the intersections of the pandemic within local, national and global economics, human rights and leadership crises.
The session concluded with the young women identifying a need for the creation of a young woman’s network within Africa to allow for ongoing communication and strategizing. They also identified the importance of young women’s demands and priorities to be represented at all meetings and decision- making processes that will affect their lives. By ensuring ongoing communication and strategizing amongst themselves, as well as other interested young women in Africa, the participants have created a mechanism to maintain the momentum gained from the institute to ensure strategic advocacy and activism at all levels.
Many young people have the passion and the capability to do a lot if given access to simple resources and support. Young women in conflict zones are especially vulnerable and often forgotten, with few opportunities to help themselves or their communities. As Case Study 12 demonstrates, however, some young people in conflict zones are making a difference. With the aid of an international youth network and determination Margaret Mercy Akongo established a resource center aimed at servicing young women. With targeted, localized training and support from governments and intergovernmental agencies, other young people could be enabled to commence similar initiatives.
Case Study 12: Incubating Women and Youth Resource Center in A Conflict Zone
In May 2002, Margaret Mercy Akongo, age 25, an Oxfam International Youth Parliament Action Partner in North East Uganda founded Tedwaii Indigenous Women Development Organization (TIDO) with the hope it would empower young people and young women in Karamoja as active partners in the development process.77 Karamoja is stereotyped as a backward region and is neglected by the government. Conflict in the region dates back thousands of years, but modern warfare has made the situation even more deadly. Education levels are low and there is little access to information. Natural resources are scarce and competition for them leads to conflict. Famine, drought and disease exacerbate the situation. Human rights abuses are frequent, especially against young people.
Mercy, with the aid of her organization, began running workshops to educate the people in her community on issues such as human rights and development. She took an active role at her university in advancing women’s affairs and she lobbied on behalf of her community at different local, national and international forums. Mercy has found that the more she speaks up, the more young people in Karamoja have called for changes to be made. At Oxfam International Youth Parliament 2004, Mercy developed an Action Plan to set up a resource center for young people and women in Karamoja to provide information that the community needed, but previously had no access to. With assistance from Oxfam IYP, Mercy is currently establishing a resource center on various topics such as reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and human rights to help empower the youth and women of Karamoja. Through the resource center, Mercy also runs regular discussions and debates on topics like involving young people and women as active partners in the development process.
Conclusion
Improving the lives of women is vital to the implementation of all Millennium Development Goals, from education and employment to health. The needs of young women and girls should be placed at the center of the MDGs, since they are often the most vulnerable. In many areas of the world, young people are already developing projects and initiatives that are increasing gender equality. To ensure the contribution of young people is accelerated, governments, schools, NGOs, and donors should commit to one or more of the above outlined Options for Action. Implementation of the Options for Action will help young people work to ensure that children and youth, regardless of their gender will develop their full potential, be treated in the same manner, have access to the same equipment, and have the same positive educational experiences.